Sunday Million: FeriBo fabulous with a wire-to-wire win

With two tables remaining, Fahredin "FeriBo" Mustafov already had the end in sight. With a 17.7 million stack, he held over three times as many chips as second-place dujo123 and only total disaster could cost him a spot at the final table. One by one, those short stacks fell and FeriBo made the final nine with 16.6 million-- still double the chips of his closest competitor. FeriBo stayed quiet until he won a huge pot off limypoker during seven-handed play after flopping trip jacks. He successfully changed gears after raking that pot, daring anyone to press their luck against his massive stack. He eliminated dujo123 and DanielT999 in fourth and fifth place respectively, and after locking up over $145k in a three-way deal, set about closing out the win. His heads-up match with limypoker proved both brief and brutal as FeriBo locked up a wire-to-wire win in the Sunday Million.

5,696 hopefuls bought into this week's Million, pushing the prize pool up to $1,139,200.00. 810 players earned a share of it with $178,173.58 set aside for the champion.

The blinds were up to 100,000/200,000 with ten players remaining. Short stack wichonski would have settled for stealing the blinds when he three-bet shoved for 1.72 million with J♥5♣, but unfortunately ran into initial raiser DanielT999's A♦J♠. Wichonski did not improve on the A♣J♦9♦8♠6♦ board and went out in tenth place, sending us to the final table.

Six hands in, the action folded to TLO-Mek, who opened for a min-raise to 500,000, and Brooklyn1909 three-bet shoved for 2.03 million from the big blind. TLO-Mek called, his A♦8♠ in poor shape against pocket jacks. The jacks held on the T♥6♣4♠ flop, but the poker gods gifted TLO-Mek the A♠ on the turn to wrest away the lead. The river was the 4♥ and TLO-Mek moved up to 7.2 million in chips as Brooklyn1909 hit the rail in ninth place.

Morze83 was the next to put his tournament life at risk, open-shoving for his last 2.25 million with 9♥9♦. Unfortunately, his timing couldn't have been worse as dujo123 woke up with A♠A♣ right behind him and reshoved for 3.56 million. Dujo123's aces held and Morze83 went out in eighth place.

The blinds were up to 150,000/300,000 when everyone folded to limypoker in the small blind. Holding A♠3♦, he open-shoved for 4.36 million... but once again dujo123 was lying in wait with a monster hand. Dujo123 snap-called with K♥K♠ and was sitting pretty going into the river on a Q♣7♣7♦9♣ board when the A♣ fell to crush his pocket pair. Limypoker doubled to 8.9 million and dujo123 was left with only 1.3 million.

Dujo123 managed to survive by doubling through FeriBo, his pocket nines winning a race against A♦J♣. Still the runaway chip leader, FeriBo increased his margin even further, winning a monster pot off limypoker. On a A♦J♣J♠ flop, limypoker check-called FeriBo's 420,121 bet and check-called another 1,088,878 when the 4♦ turned. The river was the 2♥ and limypoker checked a third time. FeriBo bet 3,000,000 and limypoker called. FeriBo revealed J♥9♠ for trips and limypoker mucked. FeriBo raked in the 11.1 million pot, leaving limypoker on only 3.4 million.

Then, on the very next deal, mendezoo found 7♥7♣ and open-shoved for his remaining 2.5 million. Dujo123 called from the big blind with A♠J♦. An ace hit the flop and that was all she wrote for mendezoo, who departed in seventh place.

Two hands later, qwerfgh committed the rest of his chips preflop with K♠6♥ vs. DanielT999's K♣8♣. DanielT999's eight kicker played on the J♠9♠3♣2♥T♥ board and qwerfgh had to settle for sixth place. Later in the same level, DanielT999 ran pocket eights into FeriBo's pocket tens and bowed out in fifth place when he got no help on the Q♠J♣5♣6♥6♠ board.

Meanwhile, dujo123 was still hanging on with five big blinds and doubled through FeriBo when his A♣T♥ hit a pair of tens against 4♣4♥. Three hands later, dujo123 tried to do it again, open-shoving with pocket fours. FeriBo reshoved with A♠9♠, setting up another race for all of dujo123's chips. This time, FeriBo prevailed, turning a pair of aces and rivering trips to send dujo123 to the rail in fourth place.

When play turned three-handed, FeriBo still held a runaway chip lead with 38.1 million, TLO-Mek was second with 12.2 million and limypoker was the short stack with 6.5 million.

Although his opponents queried several times, FeriBo wasn't interested in making a deal... that is, until limypoker's pocket fours held up against his A♦5♥, good for a double-up to 8.8 million. A few hands later, FeriBo agreed to pause the action and take a look at numbers. Here's how the final three stacked up at the time:

FeriBo 34,284,134TLO-Mek 15,046,630limypoker 7,629,236

Final table host Roy "GodlikeRoy" Bhasin provided the players with ICM numbers and after a bit of coaxing, FeriBo agreed to a slightly sweetened version of that deal. FeriBo was guaranteed $145,703.50, while TLO-Mek and limypoker locked up $127k and $112k shares respectively. With $20,000 still in play for the eventual winner, cards went back in the air.

Limypoker quickly improved his station when his A♣5♦ flopped a five vs. FeriBo's A♠6♥ in a preflop all-in, taking limypoker's stack up to 13 million. Then, on the next hand, FeriBo opened for a min-raise to 1.2 million and TLO-Mek shoved for 9.6 million. Limypoker reshoved from the big blind and FeriBo got out of the way. TLO-Mek's K♥5♥ was dominated by limypoker's A♣K♦, but he found a ray of hope when the A♥9♠8♥ flop gave him a flush draw. However, the 4♣ turn and the Q♠ river did not cooperate, and TLO-Mek departed in third place. Thanks to the deal, TLO-Mek took home the second-largest share of the prize pool at $127,000.

It only took two hands to find a winner. A check-raise on the flop won FeriBo the first, and on the second he found A♦Q♠ and opened for 1.2 million. Limypoker three-bet to 3 million, FeriBo shoved and limypoker called with A♠6♦. The Q♣T♥4♦ flop made FeriBo top pair and the 3♠ turn locked up the win, the 6♣ river too little too late for limypoker.

Congratulations to Fahredin "FeriBo" Mustafov on a dominating performance! He banked $165,703.50 for the win, while runner-up limypoker earned $112,000.